first impressions
 

firstly, all the screen shots on the net dont really do the bold much justice. the photos make it look like a beast, in reality its no bigger than my 8820.

looooooooooooooooooooooove the screen.

wifi is a lot faster than the wifi on my 8820, which is great.

the faster processor gives the aging OS a much needed boost. i found it very livable on my 8820. after a few weeks i think i would struggle to move back.

apart from that. its much of the same. doesnt feel new at all. i guess its a good thing. but there isnt much to play around with. its back to business i guess.
all my old apps work exactly as they did in 4.5, so alls well in my little world.

readjusting to the keyboard, feels a lot more spacey than my 8820.

apart from the screen. the bold is good, but nothing special.

not exactly a ringing endorsement. So if you had to pay for it, would it be worth it?

at the end of the day, its a more polished version of the 83xx 88xx series berries, naturally, if you have a 8x10, or 8x20 then you will have the best of both worlds and just that in itself is enough to justify an upgrade.

imho, its really just an 8 series with a v12 engine in it.

luckily for us in australia, its $79 per month (call,bis plan) + $10 handset repayments for 24months, and nothing upfront. so its a pretty easy decision.

if i had the choice again, i would step up to the bold. but at the end of the day, to me its exactly like my 8820 except its running on jet fuel :)
dont get me wrong, the bold is wickedly nice. but so was my 8820

edit. ill just add, that i dont use my device at all for media functions. so it might be a bit biased towards the workhorse side of things

My first impression would be that it is virtually impossible to bungle the launch of your flagship business device any more than Rogers/RIM have the Bold. From playing musical chairs with launch dates - to CSRs that have absolutely no clue how to find info on the device let alone sell you one or support it - to retail outlet who are oblivious to when they may actually be getting stock or restocked.
I hope you guys @ AT&T have better launch experience than we have had up here because at $500 to $650 a pop it's a pretty expensive rimjob (sans the reach around...)

very honest review and pretty much what i expected. ive been anxiously awaiting the release but, at the same time, wondering what exactly I was so excited about....

Some contradictions in that review:

"apart from the screen. the bold is good, but nothing special"

But you also said:

"wifi is a lot faster than the wifi on my 8820, which is great"
and
"the faster processor gives the aging OS a much needed boost".

"i found it very livable on my 8820. after a few weeks i think i would struggle to move back".

They sound like pretty special points to me. :?

Yes, you can't help notice the screen and processor. But at the end of the day it doesn't do anything my 8820 didn't do for me.
I can still post on forums, the browser renders better. But it still has problems with websites. The apps are no different to what's on os4.5.
Its like being happy, but with no joy. In one way its good. And in another its disappointing its pretty much exactly the same as my 8820.
Yes. I give it a thumbs up. Cos I like the device. But it didn't bring 1 really special anything to the table for me.

I must admire how he said "for me." because it's relative. I use a lot of chatting on my BB, I have an 8300 for the moment, and while listening to music, and yacking it up on JiveTalk and BBMessenger, and switching screens, entering in menus all at the same time is REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY Slow. The first review I saw of the BOLD was with someone listening to music and browsing... wow... :) that's a no brainer for me then! If I can TRULY multitask, then great.